Welcome to A Book About China

Whether you are coming to China for a holiday, for business, for long time work, or just want to learn more about the China, the country and Chinese culture, A Book About China is a good place to start.

The website is written and maintained as a personal project by a British expat who has been living in China for over ten years. The site documents his experiences and knowledge about life in the Middle Kingdom. During his time in China, the author has had various jobs, acted in movies, been the subject of many newspapers and TV news reports, got married, had a family, learned to drive, been through several hospitals, learned the Chinese language, studied the culture and travelled around China extensively.

By reading this website, you should be able to gain a wider understanding of Chinese culture. You will become better prepared for your own China adventures. You will learn the customs of doing business in China. You will find resources and guides that will ease you through some of the more difficult experiences. You can also be able to share your own experiences on this site so that others might learn from you too.

One day in Shanhai. You can do a lot of things in one day but in Shanghai there are a lot of things to do. How how should you prioritise and plan so you see the best of Shanghai in this short time?

Assuming you are arriving by air to Pudong International airport, take the maglev train then at the terminus, switch to the subway line 2 into the city centre. The maglev is a little bit more expensive than taking the subway the whole way, but the maglev is one of the city’s tourist attractions, so why not.

This is a very difficult question to answer. China has quite a different kind of tourism from what you might find in Europe. People are less inclined to go off exploring remote regions on their own but instead concentrate on the various prescribed tourist parks and sites. Indeed, many interesting areas might be restricted, confining tourists to official park areas and preventing you from exploring by yourself.

One of the Seven Wonders of the World, past and present, the Great Wall of China, known to the Chinese as the "Long Wall of 10,000 Li" (Pinyin: Wànlǐ Chángchéng) is emblematic of China. This UNESCO World Heritage Site has a history which dates back over 2500 years. It is now a major tourist attraction in China with sections of the wall being restored for this purpose - especially near Beijing.